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BBEdit Review

Published at May 2, 2008 in Reviews and bbedit. 1 Comment

BBEdit is the 800 pound gorillla of text editors. People have switched to the Mac just to run this program. So what is so special about BBEdit? I’d have to say the answer is a combination of utility and pedigree.

BBEdit goes back System 6. This application is not a word processor but a text editor. While you could write a novel in BBEdit, it is more suited to prepare the web site promoting your novel or, better yet, the video game based on your novel. Put simply, this application is the equivalent of a super powered nail-gun in the tool belt of all code jockies.

BBEdit supports just about every software and internet development language you can think of. Using version 8.7 it support most, if not all, of the major languages including Objective C, Perl and Java just to name a few. Better yet, its plug-in architecture allows the creation of custom modules to support any language.

Getting back to its pedigree, BBEdit is a very mature application. The current version 8.7 has years of improvements and tweaks. Many of the innovations are obvious like code folding using Apple’s familiar disclosure triangles. Just as impressive as the big features however are the little ones that don’t show themselves right away. For instance, when you close BBEdit and then re-open it later, it remembers where you were when you left off and opens the same files in the same places. It even mounts FTP automatically. Additionally, BBEdit allows you to search and work on multiple files at a time and can handle enormous files sizes.

It tracks and allows the merging of changes in a way that is both smart and intuitive for programming. It also has a robust version control system.

One nice feature is the ability to turn down the down feature support. You can actually turn off language specific features for modules you don’t plan to use. BBEdit also includes a variety of Automator actions and Applescript support.

Having gone full circle with this application I began playing with it as a text editor and not a programming tool. Indeed, I wrote this review in BBEdit. It has some very powerful features when used in this capacity. I could particularly see using it when putting together forms with repetitive text strings. For everyday word processing however, I’m still using my concoction of Scrivener, Word, and Pages.

BBEdit actually has registered its logo phrase, “It doesn’t suck” and indeed is does not. I have to admit I was a little intimidated about reviewing BareBones BBEdit. Some people make their living in BBEdit and work in it every day. I thought, however, as a new user it would be interesting to see how easy it was to find these powerful features. Bare Bones did an impressive job of making these very deep features accessible to new users. That is no easy feat.

An individual license for BBEdit license runs $125. If you spend any amount of time in software development or web coding, you owe it to yourself to head over to Bare Bones Software and take a hard look at this application.

Review iWeb Buddy

Published at April 29, 2008 in Reviews and iweb. 0 Comments

When it comes to web development, I’m hardly a power user and I’ve found iWeb to be just fine for most of the web based projects I’m involved with. That being said, there are a few features I do miss in iWeb 08. Zarra Studios comes to the rescue with its $25 add-on for iWeb called iWeb Buddy. Put simply, iWeb Buddy picks up the slack for iWeb.

First, it allows you to manage multiple domains. While iWeb natively supports multiple sites, it does not allow you to separate these sites into multiple domains. iWeb Buddy makes it easy to manage my family site (which publishes through .mac) and some other business sites that are published elsewhere.

Another shortcoming in iWeb is web statistics. Using iWeb Buddy you can enable statistics tracking such as Google Analytics or Mint. iWeb Buddy puts the necessary scripts in and gives you access to all of those great statistics so you can figure out exactly how many people from all over the world are reading your site. As an aside, macsparky.com is huge in Fiji. Go figure.

iWeb Buddy also gives a boost to RSS support. It allows you to get that RSS button off the top of the page and place it where your readers are more likely to notice it and it also allows you to tie your feed into statistical tracking services, like Feed Burner. Finally, you can make your iWeb site friendly to social bookmarking services such as Digg and del.icio.us. You simply click a preference and iWeb Buddy does the rest.

iWeb Buddy is designed around iLife 08 and a license will cost $25. I know some of the functions in iWeb Buddy can be found in other applications. A few of them are even free. However, the benefit of iWeb Buddy is in the combination of these tools all in one place and ease of application. If you are looking to upgrade your iWeb site, iWeb Buddy should scratch the itch. You can find it at zarrastudios.com.

Review - Big Bang Brain Games

Published at April 12, 2008 in Reviews, big bang brain games and freeverse. 1 Comment

I’m what you would call an “old school” gamer which means while I’m generally cannon fodder in Halo, put me on a 25 year old stand-up Tempest game and watch out! So I’ll admit I’m not the most up to date gamer out there but I’m also a parent. When I saw Freeverse’s Big Bang Brain Games I was immediately interested. This looked like something that would be fun for my family to do together.

So we installed Big Bang Brain Games on the iMac and took a crack at it. This software actually includes six games. They are all rendered with 3-D Graphics and have a whimsical sense of humor.

Sudoku is … well … Sudoko. It has over 50,000 puzzles included from “Easy Breazy” to “Diabolical.” I wanted to show my 11 year old some of my Sudoku strategies. Well that was my plan but before long she was showing pity and helping me out.

There is also a MineSweeper clone called NovaSweeper and one called Echo that reminds me of a game I used to play as a kid called Simon. You have these four colored spheres. Each emits a tone in sequence and you have to repeat them. As you get better, the spheres start spinning.

Remembrance gives you a deck of cards with various symbols behind them. You have to flip the cards and look for matches. I used to play this game as a kid with a deck of cards and we called it “concentration.” When I played this game with my kids in Big Bang Brain Games, my six year old beat me. Are we starting to see a trend here?

I thought Reaction was the most innovative game. You have a board full of molecules. The goal is to pop as many as possible with the fewest clicks. If you get it just right you create a chain reaction that clears the whole board. This was much more satisfying to me than it probably should have.

My favorite game, however, was Fallacy, which is a logic based riddle game where an argument is placed on the screen and you have to choose how it logically fails with choices such as “Hasty Generalization”, “Appeal to Fear”, and the “Gambler’s Fallacy.” Well I finally thought I had a game where I could win and then my wife showed up and beat me like an old rug. So I guess it really is back to Tempest for me.

The games tracks your “Brain Usage” which I found a bit intimidating and for those of you who like to brag, it can upload a page of your scores to .Mac. The 3D graphics are very attractive for what are, essentially, 2D games and the dialogue is fun and family friendly. You can download a free trial at freeverse.com. Check it out with your kids but prepare for humiliation.

Leap Review

Published at April 6, 2008 in Reviews and leap. 2 Comments

Now I know us old guys frequently like to ramble on about how much things have changed since we first started computing with cassette tape backups and old televisions for monitors. However, there are a few things that haven’t changed at all. Remarkably, one of those is the way we organize files. The step from MS-DOS to the original Mac graphical user interface was revolutionary. Well that was a long time ago and things really haven’t changed much since then. If I could go back in time to 1987 and stick my MacBook in front of an original Mac user, he or she would probably be right at home finding my various applications, folders, and documents.

So the question becomes whether we have not really changed much because the system is perfect, or because we are not really trying. Well Ironic Software’s “Leap” is a finder replacement that looks to cause that type of paradigm shift.

When you fist open the Leap window, it looks more like iTunes than a finder. Gone are the hierarchical directories and in its place are a series of filters based on tags and file types.

For instance I can tell Leap I want to see document files tagged with “form” and “contract” and Leap will go and fetch. It will search through my thousands of document files and returning the few that match that criteria. You can then use the loupe tool to scan over the documents or invoke quicklook to find exactly the file you are looking for. You can then copy, move, delete or open the selected files. You can even save the searches to Leap’s toolbar for future access

It doesn’t matter that those forms may be spread out over 15 different folders. Leap doesn’t care where you keep files, it is more interested in what the files are and what reference you’ve given them. In other words, Leap embraces the anarchy of your cluttered drive.

Leap doesn’t just let you search tags, it also lets you create them. Rather than using its own proprietary tagging system, Leap just applies them as spotlight comments. This way the tags are good in any self-respecting OS X engine. Specifically, it works hand-in-glove with Default Folders X. Why doesn’t everybody do this?

In addition to acting as a potential finder replacement, it also can give you a better method of doing spotlight searches.

I’ve been using Leap for a month now and while sometimes I find it very useful, I still find myself going to Quicksilver or the Finder. The problem with tagging is that you must create the tags. Ironic Software is doing a good job of simplifying this process but it still takes work and you can’t get all of the benefits of tagging until it is in place. So at some point you have to excercise some discipline. I will be very interested to see how the folks at Ironic help us to get our tags set up quickly and easily so we can better take advantage of Leap. I think if you are a “tagger” or contemplating becoming a “tagger”, Leap may be just the tool you need. You can get it at IronicSoftware.com and a license will cost $59. If you decide to buy it, I also recommend Ironic’s very useful PDF organizer, “Yep” which costs only $10 when packaged with Leap.

OmniGraffle 5 Review

Published at March 29, 2008 in OmniGraffle and Reviews. 2 Comments

I think all reviews I do of Omni products should come with a disclaimer. I don’t hold stock in the company or anything like that. Omni does, however, manage to make tools that I find extremely useful in my day job and I’ve come to rely on their releases to make my life easier.

I reviewed OmniGraffle almost a year ago. Since then I’ve used it to make countless charts and diagrams. I was quite pleased with version 4 so the question becomes, should I upgrade to the version 5. After having participated in the Beta and used the final release for a month, the answer is “yes.”

For those of you who missed the original review, OmniGraffle gives you a set of tools to quickly and easily make diagrams, charts, and other things visual. If you talk Microspeak, it is similar to Visio. Using the application’s built in stencil library, it becomes stupid-easy to quickly assemble very attractive charts and diagrams that can be used on their own or exported into documents and presentations.

The new version 5 has a new interface that feels better to me. It is more consistent with the general interface guidelines you see in Leopard applications and gets rid of the drawer that was in Version 4.

Version 5 uses the new “Graphviz layout engine”. Once you set aside the marketing techno-jargon, that means several things as a user. It is faster, more powerful, and easier. Bezier curves are a snap and connecting objects is easier than ever. This is really helpful when you start moving things around.

The toolbars also got some love and now it is much easier to access the most commonly used tasks. An excellent OmniGraffle website that still sits on my RSS list is Graffletopia.com which acts as a clearinghouse for user created stencils. Apparently the folks at Omni are impressed too because you can now pull stencils down from Grafeltopiea from right inside OmniGraffle. One little improvement that I use often is support for Leopard’s “quick look.” I’ve collected quite a few diagrams and this makes searching through them very easy. Exporting is still a breeze and it is quite easy to incorporate the diagrams into your workflow.

OmniGraffle still comes in two flavors. The standard edition and the Professional edition which features better Visio support and other bells and whistles like subgraphs (which allow you to collapse portions of complex diagrams) and shared layers. One of the “Professional” features I’m very interested in is the notes inspector which should, if I understand correctly, allow me to applescript data or spotlight search right out of my file. I’m still working my way through applescript so I’ll have to get back to you on that one.

A lot of the new graphical bells and whistles rely on underlying Leopard technology so if you are still on Tiger, you are going to have to stick with version 4. In addition to a feature bump, OmniGraffle got a price bump. The basic version is $100 and the Professional version is $200. Upgrades from version 4 are $40. You can download a 30 day trial directly from The Omni Group. A lot of time went into making OmniGraffle intuitive and it shows. The only other applications that I think could get results like this are Visio (which does not exist in OS X) and Adobe Illustrator. Both more expensive and, in my opinion, more difficult to use.

The thing that sets OmniGraffle apart in my opinion is the shallow learning curve to quick, professional looking diagrams. The new version with a better graphics engine and a streamlined interface simply puts and exclamation point to an already useful application.

Audioengine A5 Review

Published at March 22, 2008 in Reviews, audioengine and audioengine a5. 3 Comments

For the past few weeks I’ve been upsetting the Neighbors with a pair of Audioengine A5 speakers. Audioengine is quickly becoming the manufacturer of choice for high end self-powered computer and shelf speakers.

When you open the A5 box, you have have a near-Apple experience. Each speaker is in its own cloth sack with a third sack holding a variety of connectors and wires insuring you will get it connected to something soon. The next thing you will notice after you open the box is that these speakers are heavy. The left speaker (with the built in amp) is 14 lbs and the right is 9. The materials in the speakers is 1″ thick medium density fiberboard and they have a high gloss piano finish that is very attractive. For guts, the A5’s have Kevlar woofers and the silk dome tweeters. Because they are magnetically shielded, you can use them next to your monitor but an iPhone will cause interference unless you put it into “Airplane Mode”.

On the left A5 there are a variety of inputs including AC power, perfect for your airport express, two stereo inputs, and a USB port. The result of all of this is you can charge your iPod while putting audio into the A5’s or you can use Audioengine’s wireless transmitter, the AW1 to beam music into the A5’s from any source. One of the inputs and the USB port is actually on top of the speaker making it very easy to access with your iPod.

In order put them to the test, I plugged in my iPod and listened to a track from Chick Corea’s latest album, New Crystal Silence. It sounded fantastic but as I started to ramp up the volume, I began to hear some compression distortion. The speakers were so good that I could hear some of the compression mushiness. I bought that album from the Amazon service so I hooked up my computer and ran the 256 kb version and it sounded spectacular. Playing music that loud through a MacBook Air felt like delicious overkill. Of course this means I’m going to have to rethink my encoding presets but I can think of worse problems.

There are some very detailed specifications on the A5s at Audioengine’s website. I didn’t have the ability or knowledge to confirm those specifications but I can say that it did a remarkable job of reproducing the music at louder levels than I could ever get away with at the same time my wife is in the house. The highs were clear. the mids were full, and the bass was tight without a lot of that mushy thumping I’ve heard on virtually every other speaker in this price range. I played a variety of music styles through it and they all sounded very good. These speakers are good enough to get a visit from the police at any hour. I can think of no better compliment.

With onboard USB and AC power there are a lot of possibilities. In addition to using them from my computer and iPod, I also put them in the backyard one afternoon while we were barbecuing and streamed wirelessly with the AW1. I also took them with me when I gave a presentation that included some audio and music. They did an excellent job filling the room.

My favorite use for these speakers however is for my music studio. Well, I call it a music studio. Actually, it is a keyboard in my living room with a small table next to it for my Mac. But in my mind it is a music studio. Anyway, up until the A5s, the speaker system in the “studio” was a pair of $50 computer speakers with a small plastic subwoofer. All I can say is not .. any … more. These A5s are such a huge upgrade. It makes playing the piano so much more enjoyable. Also, when I play back with 15 tracks, the A5’s handle everything from the rolling kettle drum to the tinkling triangle.

I wouldn’t call the A5s an impulse buy at $349 but at that price they still are an excellent value. If you are looking for top quality self powered speakers, I wouldn’t think twice about it. They include a three year warranty. Audioengine knows how good their product is because they give a 30-day audition. That means if you don’t like them, you can send them back for a full refund. Once you try them out, however, I can’t really imagine sending them back. You can order them directly and get more information at audioengineusa.com.

Review - MacBook Air

Published at March 15, 2008 in Reviews and macbook air. 4 Comments

The MacBook Air has now been in the wild for a few months and reviewed by just about every major technology journalist and pundit. So as I sit down to write this review I wonder what I could possibly add to the discussion. Maybe the answer is some perspective by someone who actually paid for it and has been using it, not for review purposes, but as a tool to get through my day.

Lets start with a few well-trodden points. I doubt there is any computer on the market that gives you less bang for the buck than the MacBook Air. For $1,800 you get 1.6 Ghz, 80 MB drive, and a single USB port. This is the least powerful laptop in the entire Apple lineup. In other words, if you choose your computer from a spreadsheet of features, move along, this is not computer you’re looking for. So is it overpriced and underpowered? I think that is a much more relative question than it initially appears.

So what is the point then of the MacBook Air? My answer to that question starts with my penmanship. Very few people have seen my handwriting for a reason. It’s terrible. I type everything. I’ve typed everything since the first time I sat down at a Radio Shack Color computer in 1981. Add to this the fact that I write a lot. Finally, throw into this melting pot of consumerism the fact that I am frequently not at my desk. I have a knack for getting stuck in places like offices, courthouses, airplanes, and hotels just to name a few. As much as I love my 17″ MacBook Pro, it is not the easiest device to bring into these locations. It requires a separate bag and it is heavy. Likewise, I use a computer in most meetings I attend. Again while the 17″ MacBook Pro truly is a desktop replacement, it also creates something akin to the Berlin Wall between me and the person at the other side of the table. I’ve always been aware of these shortcomings at a certain level but never really prepared to do much about them. I’ve never owned more than one computer at a time.

This is what Apple does. They figure out things like this and fill a need. My initial reaction to the MacBook Air was “sexy … but too expensive” That initial impression was based on looking at the feature list and not the utility. Then I started reading the reviews (Curse you John Gruber!) and thinking about the Berlin Wall and my inability easily carry my MacBook Pro on my travels. Well we all know how the story ends. I spent more money than I probably should have and now find myself for the first time ever having two computers I can call my own.

So how am I using this device? For me it is the perfect writer’s machine. A comfortable keyboard, a fantastic screen, and plenty of horsepower to drive things like Scrivener, Word, and the Omni Applications. For that purpose the MacBook Air is ideal. It goes just about anywhere and gives me access to my favorite applications in no time at all.

Knowing its limitations and its advantages, I’m finding it very useful. It fits in my briefcase along with the other detritus I tend to carry around and presents me with near instant access to my files with just a flip of the lid. Add to that other common computer applications like email, browsing, and Keynote and I have everything I need to perform about 70% of what I do at a computer on me at all times.

As a lawyer, I often find myself at the mercy of guys who wear black robes and don’t necessarily care about my inconvenience. As a case in point, I was attending a hearing this week where the Judge suddenly stopped me and explained he had a luncheon and would be back in “around two hours”. With the benefit of this tiny waffle computer in my bag those two hours were not lost. I got myself OmniFocused, returned email, and wrote a contract. So that is fine and dandy you say but couldn’t I have done that on a MacBook and saved myself a lot of money? Well to be honest, yes. But while I’m on the subject of honesty I don’t know if I would be carrying a MacBook at all times in my bag. You can not understate how thin this computer is. If you haven’t got your hands on one, you should. Or perhaps you shouldn’t.

It is engineered like no computer I have ever seen. The profile looks a lot more like something you should attach to to the wing of an airplane rather than use while sitting inside it. Beauty has its costs though. The sole usb port drops down on a self enclosed flap. It kind of reminds me of the door to the Bat Cave. My concern though is that you have to wriggle the usb cord to pull it out and over time that little flap is going to take a beating. Likewise, my friend Allison Sherridan points out that the MagSafe adapter is different from all other Apple laptops. Instead of plugging straight in, it runs up the side of the computer. This is because of that slick airfoil-like profile. The problem is, that from some angles, it doesn’t pop out as easily as the standard MagSafe adapter. In that case, the MacBook Air could actually end up taking flight.

So I told you about how 70 percent of my computing is handled with the MacBook Air. Unfortunately for the other 30 percent, it is completely inadequate. This is not a machine to produce video or music production. It is really not fair comparing the performance issues to my MacBook Pro. The MacBook Air has a slower processor, a slower hard drive, and less RAM. Regardless, I generally find the biggest interruption to my writing process is not missing clock cycles but instead misfiring brain synapsis. Apparently my brain doesn’t always keep up with 1.6 ghz.

I did, however, push Air a bit with my photo rig. I’ve got Aperture and Photoshop installed and while they aren’t as snappy as on my MacBook Pro, it is viable. Another issue with photo editing is I have to keep my library on an external USB drive so there is one more cause for a slowdown. I wouldn’t want it as my only photo machine but in a pinch, it will work. I’m planning on taking it on vacation with me and leaving the MacBook Pro home.

Speaking of the drive, I have strangely not had any problem living with an 80 gigabyte drive. As I write this, I’ve used 40 gigabytes and have 33 remaining. I’m sure I’ll find a use for that additional space but I already have everything I need for what I do on the MacBook Air.

I toyed with the AirDisk function but it was too slow for me. It was going to take hours to install iWork. Instead I pulled a very old USB external DVD drive out of mothballs. This was purchased for a PC several years ago but the MacBook Air recognized it with no difficulty.

In summary, I am loving my new Mac. It is so thin. I can take it anywhere that I can take a pad of paper. As a result, it is often close by and suddenly “dead time” is becoming “productive time”.

Review - Snapper from Audio Ease

Published at March 1, 2008 in Reviews and snapper. 1 Comment

Let’s say you are about to make the perfect voicemail message but it doesn’t include the right background noise to convey exactly how things are in your home . Then suddenly it dawns on you. You need that audio file you had of screaming monkeys. You open a Finder window full of audio files with user friendly names such as xq235.mp3 and realize this is going to take awhile. Apparently someone at Audio Ease also lost the screaming monkeys audio file because their application, Snapper, is perfect to help you out of that pickle.

Snapper is a Finder add-on that pops up a little window below your finder or iTunes window. Whenever you highlight an audio file Snapper lets you preview and manipulate it. In addition to giving you audio previews, Snapper provides you a bunch of data on the file and generates a waveform. The time required to generate the waveform depends on the size of the sound file. For small files it is very quick. For a 128kbps encoded version of Miles Davis’ “All Blues” it took about 8 seconds on my MacBook Pro.

Once Snapper has your audio file up you can then very easily crop and convert sections. This is perhaps Snapper’s most impressive feature. It is quite intuitive as you begin selecting segments of audio and dragging it into your Finder window. For ProTools users, you can send a clip directly into your ProTools project. After little time you’ll become quite conversant with Snapper clipping and converting to your heart’s desire. There is something quite satisfying about selecting a portion of a song with your mouse and dragging it out. If you are looking to load up your iPhone with ringtones, this could speed the job up. Snapper’s information panel can be customized and provides immediate access to just about any metadata you could ever need. While there are plenty of tools available in Snapper I thought the interface could use some polish.

I couldn’t find any sound file on my Mac that Snapper couldn’t play. The developer explains Snapper can open over 50 different file types. If you want the Snapper window to attach to your iTunes window you can enable that function in the preferences. I tried it and then turned it off because the wave form generation was slowing me down.

There are a few things Snapper doesn’t do. It doesn’t organize sound files. It really is made to latch onto a file more than organize it. Also, although you can manipulate the files, it doesn’t really act as a sound editor in any traditional sense.

Snapper excels at quick and dirty clips and conversions in Finder organized audio. If you already have audio software on your Mac, there probably isn’t anything that Snapper does that you can’t already do with your existing software. For me, Snapper’s best selling point was its convenience. It was much faster doing quick clips than any of my existing Audio software.

Unfortunately, at a price of $79.95, I think Snapper misses the mark. There is some very robust audio software out there at or around the same price that can do much more than Snapper. I suspect the ProTools integration may be its biggest selling point at its current price. While this is a handy application, I think it would be much more attractive around the $20 price point.

The good news is Audio Ease has a fully functional 100 day demonstration so you can kick the tires for over three months if Snapper sounds interesting to you. You can download it at audioease.com.

Review - Otterbox Armor iPhone Case

Published at February 23, 2008 in Reviews. 1 Comment

This review was also broadcast on the MacReviewCast #148.

Remember when the iPhone first released and there were just 3 cases on the market? Well that was eight months ago and now there are more like 3,000 cases on the market. To be honest I had little interest in any of them. I have an invisible shield on my phone (although I’m often tempted to remove that as well) and that is it. It works fine. Fits in my pocket and gives me no troubles.

I must admit however that I was very intrigued by the products offered by OtterBox. They specialize in cases that are more functional than pretty. Put simply, Otterbox is in the protection business.

The reason I was attracted to Otterbox is that while I usually don’t need a case at all, I sometimes need one desperately. Our home is very near some of the areas that got burned out in the California fires this year and I’ve taken to hiking through the woods and taking pictures. Likewise, I often find myself chasing my kids through things like tidepools and beaches with my phone in my pocket.

This is why I got an Otterbox Armor iPhone case. This case is the Sherman tank of iPhone cases. It opens with two sturdy latches. Inside is a stereo plug that slides into your iPhone and a rubber grip to hold it snug.

You then close the case and lock it down with the side tabs. On the outside is a translucent material that allows you to operate the touch interface with a noticeable, but not unusable, bit of resistance. This may have been amplified my invisible shield. It has an external headphone jack (not recessed) and external buttons that (with some mashing) give you access to all of your primary iPhone buttons and controls. It even has small diaphragm type devices over the speakers.

Put simply, this rugged case makes your iphone waterproof, dustproof, dirtproof, sandproof, and drop-proof, kid-proof, tidepool proof, and just about anything else-proof. It has rubber on the inside and protective plastic rubbery stuff on the outside which would allow you to confidently spike your phone on the ground with little fear of damage. I don’t think there is another iPhone case out there that could take a beating the way this one could. It can even go underwater. That is right. The iPhone submarine. According to the manufacturer it could go as deep as three feet.

Now I love participating in the Mac community and I will go to great lengths for my fellow Mac geeks, but sinking my iPhone three feet in the pool was one shot I just couldn’t take for the team. Instead I put a wad of tissue in the case and then sank it three feet for 15 seconds. When I pulled it out, I opened it up and the tissue was remarkably dry. I couldn’t see any signs of water intrusion inside the case. I don’t think you can take your phone scuba diving with this case but if I do end up dropping it in the tidepools someday, I’ll probably be alright.

They have one version that is black on black and another that is black and yellow. The Armor is not what I would call an elegant case. It is attractive though … in the same way a muddy Range Rover driving out of the jungle is attractive. It is big and bulky and completely contrary to that elegant simplicity that you always find in Apple design. However, if you are going to beat the heck out of your phone, the Armor is for you. I keep mine in my car so when I decide to hit the beach or go for a hike, into the Otterbox Armor it goes. The armor sells for about $70 and you can find it at many online retailers.

Review - Audioengine W1

Published at February 16, 2008 in Reviews and audioengine w1. 3 Comments

For those of you not familiar with Audioengine, it is a speaker company that specializes in outstanding consumer speakers. Audioengine’s self powered A2 and A5 speakers sound terrific .

Audioengine just released a new product, the W1 which is two small devices. One is marked “sender” and the other “receiver.” These units, which are each the size of a pack of chewing gum allow you to send a wireless audio signal from any one device to just about any other device in your home.

Setting up the W1 is very simple. You need an audio signal through an eighth inch stereo plug and power. There is no software to configure. The two devices automatically find each other and pair up. For power, the W1 requires a USB port. This can be the USB port in your computer or one of those little AC USB plugs. The W1 comes with one of the portable AC adapters and I had a second one from my iPod so this was not a problem. Not so coincidentally, the Audioengine A5 speakers come with a built in USB plug so if you are using A5’s, you truly have “plug and play.”

Let me give you a few examples of how I used the W1. First, I streamed audio from my Mac to my stereo. This worked fine across three rooms up to about 80 feet. Beyond that the signal started to degrade a bit. Most interestingly, however, is that there was no noticeable lapse. I was able to watch Indiana Jones’ lips on my Mac and hear his voice through my stereo without detecting anything out of sync. The product specifications list the latency as less than 20 milliseconds. I also hooked up my MIDI keyboard to my Mac and began klunking away in Logic. Again, I had the W1 attached to my Mac and fed into my stereo. This allowed me to get a full rich sound with no discernible lag. It sounded much better than the lousy speakers I’m currently running off my keyboard. It was also helpful when editing music. I am currently working on one song that uses 10 instruments. When I try to play it back through my Mac speakers, a lot of it gets washed out. Piping it through to my stereo with the W1 made it a lot easier.

So using the W1 on your Mac gives you near simultaneous wireless audio through an external source. I can definitely get used to this. This, of course, leads to the next question, how is the Audio signal?

Audioengine explains the W1 is supposed to provide CD-quality HD stereo sound with no reduction in audio quality. I really wasn’t sure what that means. I ran an informal test where I played a CD through the stereo connected with optical cable and then loaded the CD into my Mac and played the same track through the W1. I tried to hear a difference. I really tried. I had to strain to tell a difference. The Audioengine folks told me the quality matches or exceed the Airport Express. After running a separate comparison with my Airport express, I believe them. In the end I concluded that if you get near the 100 foot range of the device you will hear a difference. Also if you are an audiophile with a very good ear, you may hear a difference. But I doubt someone like that would be interested in any wireless solution.

In addition to testing the range of the W1, I also did everything I could to interfere with the wireless signal. I rang the cordless phone, operated data services on my iPhone, dowloaded some files over my Airport network, and ran the microwave oven all at once and there was no discernible effect on the W1 audio quality.

Once I got comfortable with the W1 I began looking around my house for other devices I could use it on. I ran my subwoofer on it with no problems. So if the cable under the carpet ever fails, I’m good to go. A few days ago I had to get some work done in the garage but wanted to hear the presidential primary debate. There is no TV in my garage. So I attached the W1 to my television audio out and hooked up my portable iPod speakers in the garage. It worked fine. I even hooked up the W1 “Sender” to my Generation 1 iPod nano and wirelessly blasted music through my stereo.

I don’t think you can review this product without comparing it to Apple’s Airport Express. While on the surface these products seem very similar, in fact they are quite different. The W1 works from any source, not just your computer, and requires no software. The W1 allows you to use it in a variety of contexts and essentially becomes a 100 foot long wireless cable you can use between just about any of your components. Because there is no software, there is no limitation. Just about anything with an audio out can pipe over the W1. I looked hard for something really old to try on the W1. Like an original Mac or my old Atari 400 computer. Unfortunately, I’m not much of a pack rat and all that stuff is long gone. However, I did find a 25 year old Walkman cassette player in the garage with a tape still in it. It worked fine with the W1. This leads to two questions. First, is there anything the W1 won’t work with and second, why did I have a Debbie Gibson cassette?

In contrast the Airport Express is a dedicated product that allows you to stream music or provide a remote ethernet or USB port to your network. It doesn’t require a dongle from your computer and all the Macs on your network see it wherein with the W1, only the computer with the “sending” unit attached will be able to transmit.

Another possible distinction is that the W1 runs its own network so it won’t slow down your computer network. For instance, if you are currently running a wireless N network and attach an Airport Express, it runs at “G” speed and will slow down the network. The W1 won’t be a part of your Airport network and not get in the way.

I find plenty of uses for both the Airport Express and the W1 in my home. For streaming iTunes, I’ve stuck with the Airport express. All of the Macs in the house see it and the lag doesn’t bother me since it is just music. For streaming audio with no latency, the W1 is the only tool for the job. Very low latency and superior sound quality make it the best choice. Likewise, when the source is any device other than my Mac, once again the W1 is the only option. The W1 retails for $149.00 and can be purchased directly from audioengineusa.com.

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Review - TuneRanger

Published at February 9, 2008 in Reviews and tuneranger. 22 Comments

I have a confession. I’ve had iPods for years and own more music than I care to admit. While I did get it all ripped into iTunes a long time ago, I’ve never really been an iTunes power user. That has been changing the last few months though. Recently I’ve started making smart playlists and autosyncing lists to get more out of my music library. This is great but it has also exposed a problem. Fancy playlists depend on good metadata like how you’ve rated a song or when the was the last time you played it. Since I have portions of my library on my laptop and a big library on the family desktop (not to mention an iPod and iPhone), keeping all of this data in sync could be a real chore. This problem gets magnified when my wife and kids get involved. I like Hannah Montana as much as the next dad, but that doesn’t mean she gets to share space with Thelonius Monk and Debussy on my iPod.

While at Macworld this year I found a small company named Acertant Technologies that had a booth right behind the Apple area, that section where all of the best little developers seem to land. Anyway, I met Manny Menendez who showed me an application he developed for precisely my iTunes problems called TuneRanger.

TuneRanger connects all of your iTunes libraries. It then compares the libraries and allows you to share data between them. This doesn’t just include the music files but also all of the metadata.
When you first open TuneRanger it gives you a window that shows your local iTunes library and any other libraries on your network. It then gives you drop down lists of playlists on both libraries and gives you several options. When choosing what to sync you have a variety of filters available including duplicate files, license IDs, file types, genre, artists, album names, and song titles. You can also instruct TuneRanger to trash files marked for deletion or move them to a different folder for later review and deletion.

You can force one library upon another or synchronize them. Once you give TuneRanger its instructions it does a preliminary analysis and gives you a dialog telling you what it is going to do and offering you a chance uncheck any specific action. Once you tell it to go, TuneRanger then does the syncrhonization. This doesn’t just work with other computers in your network. It also works with your iPod. You can actually pull music off your iPod and place it in your iTunes library with TuneRanger. TuneRanger is also multiplatform so if part of your library is on a Vista or XP box, you still can synchronize. Since I’ve purged all PC’s from my home, I was unable to test this feature.

Before using TuneRanger, I treated our desktop computer as the source for all iTunes music. All music had to be ripped on that machine and all iTunes purchases had to be made on that machine. I then had to manually copy the stuff I wanted over to my laptop usually losing all metadata. TuneRanger has really liberated me of this whole process. I can now finally use the iTunes button on my iPhone or buy music on my laptop. It is no trouble to then later upload it to the desktop computer with TuneRanger. It really is that easy.

The application costs $29.99 and includes 5 single platform licenses so you will have no trouble getting it on all of the Macs in your household. There is also a free trial available at www.acertant.com. You should be warned though, since getting TuneRanger on my Mac, I’ve spent a lot more money downloading music.

Review - BusySync

Published at February 2, 2008 in Reviews and busysync. 1 Comment

Calendar syncing is a subject that can strike fear into the hearts of anyone who uses it. If your calendar data is important enough that you must sync it, you also probably can’t afford to lose it. Unfortunately the very process of syncing calendars on computers often has that very effect. With my Treo it was really bad. Somedays I’d sync and lose all my appointments. Other times I would end up with four copies of every appointment. It got to the point where I would just plug in and pray.

Nevertheless, I desperately need a calendar syncing solution in my home. The Sparks home is a hectic place under the best of circumstances. Because we are all so busy, it is embarrassing how often we double book ourselves and end up having to cancel plans.

It was with this problem in mind that I found myself at the BusyMac booth at Macworld looking at BusySync. The developers told me this application could reliably sync calendars with all of the Macs in my home without these headaches and without an OS X server. This is something I had to see.

BusySync allows you to share calendars. You can pick and choose which calendars to share and what kind of access you are giving the other users. You can give read only or write access. You can require a password, or not. BusySync then goes out over Bonjour or the internet and Syncs with other iCal users. Over Bonjour the syncing is really fast. Within seconds. I’ve been using it for two week now and am happy to report it just works.

In addition to giving you the ability to customize your sharing, BusySync also give you the ability to restore from a backup. Indeed BusySync keeps ten backups of your calendar at all times so if things do get all kerfluffled, you can restore with one click. Thank You BusyMac.

BusySync is the brain child of John Chaffee and Dave Riggle. These guys have long Mac calendar roots and were the original developers of Now Up-to-Date for the Mac back in 1991.

Getting back to the Sparks house, we now can all see each other’s calendars and we have a new calendar called “Family” so when we are planning that trip to the mountains we can all see it. If my wife wants to “schedule” me to watch the kids while she goes crafting with her friends she can first check to see if I’m stuck in court. Suddenly we aren’t double booking on top of each other and peace has broken out. Well sort of.

It gets better though, BusyMac is about to release version 2 of BusySync that allows you to also sync your iCal data with Google calendars. So with this one product you will get networked calendar syncing and Google sync allowing you to view and modify your calendars from any Mac or (dare I say it?) PC.

A BusySync license will cost you $20 per computer. When version 2 is released, the price will go up to $25 per computer but the upgrade will be free to licensed version 1.5 users. Not only that, BusyMac has agreed to give an additional discount to readers and listeners. For a limited time, you can get a 20% discount on BusySync by entering the coupon code “MACSPARKY”. Just go to www.busymac.com/buy and enter the coupon code.

Review - OmniFocus

Published at January 12, 2008 in OmniFocus and Reviews. 5 Comments

Omnifocus is the Omni Group’s submission in the growing field of OS X task management programs. OmniFocus has been in development over a year. I was fortunate to get into the alpha test early and I’ve actually been using OmniFocus as my exclusive task management application since June.
I am a believer in keeping tasks lists. I would like to say this arises from some inherent sense of order and organization. In truth however, it arises from my very early realization that I am scatterbrained and often have the attention span of a goldfish. As a result, I write things down. I’m not just talking grocery lists here. If I can not do something immediately, I write it down. Since I do the legal work several companies and have other commitments with my family, my community, and macsparky, this list gets pretty long. So getting back to that part about being scatterbrained I am constantly throwing tasks into OmniFocus. When do I need to prepare for trial? When do I need to volunteer at my daughters’ school? When do I need to clean the air filter and rotate the tires? For someone like me, dumping these things into a system is liberating. Trying to track even a small percentage of these things without tools like OmniFocus could get really ugly, really fast.
So the Omni Group enlisted some very smart productivity folks and came up with OmniFocus, an application designed to hold all those tasks you are carrying around in your head and spit them out to you in small, bite sized, pieces.

The first part of any task system is input. That is, how do you get your tasks into the system? In OmniFocus, the best place for me to do this is the planning window. In it I can create folders and projects and load them up with tasks. You can customize this window to be as simple or complex as you need it. I use the fields for description, project, context, start, and due dates. OmniFocus helps you here anticipating your entries. For instance, I have a project for my fantasy football league, the Riddiculous Football League. If I type “RFL”, OmniFocus figures that out for me. It does the same thing for client projects. Likewise, OmniFocus is very smart on dates. I can list a due date by writing the month and date (like 1/15) or contextually like “4d” for three days or the monday in two weeks “2w Mon”.

Entering new projects and filling them with tasks is easy enough this way. However a lot of time I think of tasks when I’m not even in OmniFocus. For this, the application has a very handy quick entry panel. So I can be in Safari and be inspired to add a task to some project of mine. I’ve mapped a key combination that allows me to open the quick entry panel which also recognizes all of the project and date shortcuts you get inside OmniFocus. It takes just seconds to create.

Another feature for task entry is clippings which allows you to select text inside your browser or mail program and with a simple key combination create a quick entry task item with the text attached. Speaking of mail you can also preface emails to yourself that OmniFocus will read as new tasks and input them automatically.

Once the tasks are in you can add notes and attachments to them. I scan most important documents that come my way and drop them into OmniFocus as an attachment to their corresponding tasks so when it comes time to get to work, I don’t have to go searching for the related documents.

Once you’ve got your tasks inside OmniFocus, you can organize them by project or context. But that is really just the first step. OmniFocus has a series of filters you can apply to these modes to sort by folder, due date, start date, durations, flags, and several other criteria that you may, or may not, care to use. Once you have a set of filters set up just the way you like you can save that as a Perspective. You can save all of your favorite Perspectives and access them with just one click. I’ve set up several Perspectives on my system and jump between them as I go through my day.

The print dialogue also gives you several options if you want to make a hard copy which is nice if you are going to be away from your mac. Another trick I use is to print portions of my task list to pdf and then email the pdf to myself so I’ve got it on my iPhone.

OmniFocus also has a robust syncing system with iCal. I used it for awhile but found iCal’s task management system so anemic that I just turned that feature off. Now I just manage tasks in OmniFocus and have no complaints.

Using all of these tools together is what makes OmniFocus really shine. I usually spend about 15 minutes every morning planning things out and prioritizing as necessary. I then spend the rest of the day checking off items and adding new items as projects and tasks present themselves. I’ve got a lot of plates in the air and OmniFocus has really helped me keep them from smashing to the floor.
OmniFocus was not developed as a “kitchen sink” application. By this I mean the developers had a clear idea of what they wanted and did not include every conceivable feature. For instance it does not support numerical prioritization like some task management applications do. I thought I would miss this feature but I haven’t. The application does allow you to “flag” certain items and that is enough for me.

OmniFocus also does not allow you to easily synchronize between multiple Macs. I read in the forums that some users accomplished this by keeping their data on a thumb drive but a .mac sync solution would be very nice. Likewise, a way to easily sync and amend this data on my iPhone would be great. Fortunately, this is just a 1.0 release and the Omni folks have stated their intention to tackle these problems with future updates after Apple releases the iPhone SDK.

OS X is very fortunate to have a variety and ever growing set of task management applications. Having tried a lot of them I find OmniFocus to be perfect for my particular needs. It is scaleable and can grow (or shrink) depending on how busy things get for you. A license will cost $79.95 which is not cheap, especially in light of the fact many competent alternatives are free. You can get $20 off if you already own an OmniOutliner Pro license. Regardless, if you spend as much time managing tasks and projects as I do, this investment is well worth it. The people at Omni Group just deliver. Every day I find myself using their products and being more productive, efficient, and just looking better to my clients. In that respect OmniFocus is entirely what I expected: reliable, efficient, and helpful. You can download a free trial at OmniGroup.com.

You can listen to the above review on The MacReviewCast Episode 142.

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Review - VoodooPad

Published at January 6, 2008 in Reviews and voodoopad. 1 Comment

As much as I like Pages and Scriviner for word processing, sometimes I just want a down and dirty text editor. For this purpose I have been using OS X‚Äôs built in text editor.

I know there are some very powerful text editor replacements out there that are very helpful to code jockies but I‚Äôm not sure how useful those applications would be to someone like me who writes a lot more documents than programs. Furthermore, I often use text files to dump ideas as I explained in one of my Quicksilver screencasts. Not to be dissuaded from my never ending quest for shiny new software I decided to give Flying Meat‚Äôs VoodooPad a try as a possible text editor replacement.

While VoodooPad is a text editor, it really is much much more. In essence it is a personal Wiki that allows you to to create links on the fly as you type. For instance I have a page in VoodooPad called Mac and on that page I have created several links including things such as MacSparky article ideas, MacWorld packing list, and a few other lists and resources that don’t really fit anywhere else on my system. VoodooPad can automatically number the lists or make bullets. In addition to letting me create the lists, VoodooPad allows me to link them together and search them.

This just doesn’t work for text though. You can also drop in URL’s, images, pdfs, and you can even draw your own pictures using a tablet or (if you are really skilled) a mouse. This system becomes almost viral in nature. In the month I’ve been using it I’ve created over a hundred pages including research for my clients, gift ideas for upcoming birthdays and even potential titles for my MacSparky business cards.

Regardless, it is all easily searchable once inside VoodooPad. Some other nifty features includ LinkBack which allows you to paste content from a linkback enabled application and reopen it with just a few clicks. I was very pleased to discover this works for both OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle. It also allows a form of tagging by assigning categories and supports scripting and allows you to publish directly to the web. It has a feature to export to iPod notes but this does not work with the iPhone which is too bad.

To be honest I really didn’t know what I was getting into with VoodooPad when I started using it. It is similar in nature to Yojimbo yet not quite. I’m not sure if it fills a different niche or is just a different way to work. The interface is much more stripped down. I’d almost call it old school. Black and white and a lot of text. Those of us that remember Macs that used to say “hello” will appreciate that. The fact that it is stripped down does not impact efficiency though. It actually improves it.

I’ve been using VoodooPad as a notebook replacement. It is stable and lightweight. The feature set is well crafted and not overdone. I still haven’t figured out how it fits in with my other data collection programs but while I sort it out my VoodooPad seems to just collect more and more data. You can download VoodooPad from Flying Meat Software which is Gus Mueller’s company that makes other great Mac applications such as Acorn and Fly Sketch. They sell three versions with increasing feature sets. The lite version is free, the standard version is $29.95, and the pro version is $49.95. This review was of version 3.2.3 of the VoodooPad Pro

This week on MacSparky I blogged several new software updates, MacWorld and some of my favorite Menubar aplications. Stop on by and check it out.

Review - BeeDocs Timeline

Published at December 22, 2007 in Reviews and timeline. 3 Comments

This week I’m reviewing a timeline program. Now I know right now a lot of people are rolling their eyes but I love timelines. I actually get excited about them. I think I like timelines because they are visual and a lot of times you see relationships and ideas on a timeline that don’t jump out at you any other way. Until recently I always made timelines using brute force and even on occasion (Dare I say it?) graph paper and a pencil! This changed when a reader and friend turned me onto an excellent application for OS X called, Timeline published by Bee Docs.

Timeline is a simple little application that does nothing but make quick, jaw-dropping timelines. My review is of version 2.0 that just recently was released. When you first load up Timeline, it presents a simple interface that allows you to pick a theme (I like gradient style “Pleather” theme) and a data source which can be any one of several applications or your own custom data set. Setting up a new Timeline is that simple.

Choosing the custom option allows you set up your own timeline that can cover the past 10,000 years or the past 10 minutes. Each entry is made by simply hitting the little “plus” sign and filling in your data. The data can include much more than the obligatory name and date fields. It also supports date ranges, description, photos, and links. This gives you the ability to easily create rich timelines with little work. One of my favorite parts of this is how the program makes room for every entry. Before Timeline, I always found it tedious when I decided to add an event to a timeline and ended up having to scooch everything over to to make it fit.

As an example I prepared a timeline for a client on a dispute I’m involved with where I included images of key contracts and letters throughout a transaction. It took me all of about ten minutes to prepare and looked very professional. Even more importantly, it was critical in conveying important information. Following the meeting I emailed a PDF of the timeline (accomplished with one click in Timeline) and the client and I still refer to it in our phone conversations.

If you don’t want to make a custom data set, Timeline will pull its data out of your iLife applications as well as a few others. Timeline even found Skitch on my machine as a source of timeline data. Using the iLife integration I made a timeline of my most recently played iTunes songs, birthdays from my address book, and photos from iPhoto. I was able to incorporate photographs and links with almost no effort.

The software developer, Adam Behringer, is a fellow Mac enthusiast with whom I’ve been trading email. Adam explained he turned software developer when Apple released OS X. He has now released version 2.0 which adds all the picture and link goodness I descried above. Adam explained the vision for Timeline has always been to create an application where the Timeline can be generated as fast as the entries are discussed and he has succeeded brilliantly.

This application would be useful for more people than geeky lawyers though. I can see this being used in education, business, marketing, and anything else that requires either future planning or summarizing past events. You can download a trial of Timeline at www.beedocuments.com. There is also a very nice (and short) video demonstration. A full license will cost you $40. However, the developer has generously given a discount code for MacSparky readers. If you type the code MACSPARKY at checkout, you will get 15% off. This discount is good through the end of January 2008.

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You can listen to the above review on The Mac ReviewCast Episode 139.

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Review - Amadeus Pro

Published at December 15, 2007 in Reviews and amadeus pro. 0 Comments

Before I went to lawschool, I used to to pay the bills playing my saxophone. At the time, I was pretty knowledgeable about recording technology. Now if you fast forward 20 years, I’ve been reduced to a complete novice. An eager learner perhaps, but still a novice. Up until very recently I did all of my audio recording on my mac using Soundtrack. Don’t get me wrong. Soundtrack is a brilliant bit of code. But it is also very expensive and for most applications, extraordinary overkill on the level of smashing a walnut with a pile driver.

With this in mind, I’ve been playing with Amadeus Pro. This program really is a breath of fresh air for someone like me who generally only needs a simple audio recording and editing program. Behind the simple interface, however, Amadeus has some powerful editing tools, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The interface in Amadeus Pro is simple. You’ve got a waveform and a timeline with a few self explanatory buttons like “Record” and “Stop”. It also has buttons to add, remove, or split tracks. It took me longer to plug my microphone in than it did to figure out how to start recording in Amadeus Pro.

Once you’ve made your recording, Amadeus provides a waveform that you can select and manipulate. This is the part where the simple interface conceals quite a bit of power. Selecting a portion of the recording I can apply several different filters that let me do things like removing pops and hisses. I can also normalize, change pitch, apply stereo effects, fade, and several other helpful filters.

You can also insert markers to your recordering either manually or automatically. The markers can then be used to split the recording into separate audio files. I can envision a really nice workflow where you would record your vinyl into Amadeus Pro and then have Amadeus remove those pops and hisses and then split the album into separate tracks before export. I, unfortunately, got rid of my vinyl records long before these new fangled toys came about so I wasn’t able to put it in practice.

Amadeus Pro reads and writes AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3, MPEG 4, WAV and just about every audio file type I could ever imagine plus a few I’ve never heard of. Does anyone use the Ogg Vorbis file format? It sounds to me like something you might feed a hobbit but it is actually an open source replacement for MP3. Regardless, Amadeus can read and write it.

Amadeus Pro also does batch processing. One of my music recordings bounced a series of AIF files out of logic onto my desktop. I wanted to quickly get them into a smaller size format and I simply dropped the lot of them in Amadeus’ batch processor. You can do a lot more than just change formatting in it too. You can also apply some filters and tag the files.

There is also a tab called “Analyze” that gives a variety of audio spectrum tools. Essentially, these tools give you a visual representation of the sound. If you are skilled at using them, they can be really helpful.

Amadeus Pro is a powerful yet simple recording application with enough muscle under the hood to take care of most recording needs. It seems that the usual price for admission for recording applications is about $100. Amadeus Pro only costs $40. I was unable to find anything else with this rich of a feature set at the same price point. You can download it from the developer at Hairersoft.com.

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Review - Scrivener

Published at December 8, 2007 in Reviews and Scrivener. 0 Comments

This is a review that has been a long time coming. I think the most important thing a word processor can do is get out of your way. What I mean is that Hemingway wrote his genius on a napkin while I sometimes write complete drivel on my expensive MacBook Pro. No matter what software you use to write, at the end of the day it is your words and not some arbitrary feature set that determines the quality of the final product.

This is why I like Scrivener from LiteratureandLatte software. It is a word processor that attempts to help you with the words. Scrivener is not just a word processor. This application is as much about planning and organizing your writing project as it is about getting the physical words on the screen.

The first thing you need to do with most writing projects is a bit of research. Using Scrivener I can capture all of my research in the same project that I am writing my masterpiece in. When writing legal briefs I have reference cases and statutes, exhibits, and a variety of other source materials. When writing for the Mac community I also have research materials that include screencasts, images, and web pages. It doesn’t matter. Scrivener takes just about anything I throw at it and organizes it in a research tab. Scrivener doesn’t make you monkey with getting your research and your document on the page at the same time either. It easily displays your research while giving you a separate typing pane with no troubles.

Following this paradigm, Scrivener also has a virtual corkboard. Maybe I’m dating myself but I remember writing papers in school with index cards. You would summarize important points and ideas and then spread them out on a desk and start playing with their organization. Well the Scrivener developer must have had the same experience because Scrivener comes with a virtual corkboard and an endless supply of virtual notecards. All of your research and related documents are given their own index card which you can then shuffle and sort on the virtual corkboard. For those of you who remember doing this, it will feel like sliding back into a pair of comfortable shoes. For those among you that have never tried using notecards, I highly recommend it. Scrivener keeps an eye on how you move the cards around and sorts the underlying documents to conform. It also allows you to tie keywords to your notecards to make organization and retrieval easier on large projects.

If you need to reduce your notecards to an outline, Scrivener has that handled as well. This outline is much more robust that found in other word possessors but not quite up to snuff in comparison to OmniOutliner. However, with the added bonus of being attached to your research and drafts, I don’t find myself missing OmniOutliner and for someone who likes OmniOutliner as much as I do, that is saying something.

Scrivener also realizes that sometimes our editing can go a bit astray. The application has a “snapshot” feature that allows you to capture versions of a document during the editing process. You can then go back and retrieve that discarded treasure later when you come to your senses. It is a bit like Time Machine for documents.

In addition to getting you ready to write, Scrivener makes the process of writing as simple and distraction free as possible. It has a very clean full screen mode that clears all the usual diversions off your screen and provides you easy access to your research. If you are a nostalgic old guy like me, you can even configure it to be green words on a black screen. I used to write for a newspaper on one of those old machines and every time I see this view in Scrivener, it brings back fond memories.

One of the things I like about Scrivener is how it changes all the rules. Page formatting is not there. Instead you have these various chunks of text displayed in a visual way that is very conducive to making the actual words better and less prone to the white noise a lot of word processors can throw your way. This doesn’t mean you can’t do your standard formatting in Scrivener. It just doesn’t become your focus.

If you are writing a screenplay, Scrivener also has built in tools for you that covers the basics of Script editing and exports to other scriptwriting software. I played with these tools a bit but have no experience scriptwriting and really have no ability to give an informed opinion on this issue.

Once you’ve got your document written, Scrivener can print it for you or export it in one of several formats including Microsoft Word, text, HTML, and others. It even supports multimarkdown markup language which I’m told is important for typesetters but again this is a feature I don’t have any experience with.

In summary, I really like what Scrivener does for my writing. It actually makes the words and documents better. Scrivener is substance over form. If you find yourself managing large writing projects, you really owe it to yourself to give it a try. Scrivener will cost you $39.95. The developer has a free 30 day trial. There is also an excellent screencast on the website to show you how Scrivener works.

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Review - Hazel

Published at December 1, 2007 in Reviews and hazel. 0 Comments

If you would like to listen to this review, you can hear my dulcet tones on MacreviewCast #136

I’ve been getting deeper into automation lately. In this regard, I’ve discovered a very handy little application called Hazel. Hazel, published by Noodlesoft.com, is an appropriately named application that does the housekeeping on your Mac. It is a preference pane that allows you to make a series of rules as to how to handle certain files on your system. Hazel then, either automatically or at your command, goes off and executes the rules you create. I think perhaps the easiest way to describe it is to give a few examples of some of my Hazel rules:

* Hazel empties my trash every few days

* Hazel empties my downloads folder and puts the movies in my movies folder, pictures in my picture folder, and music in my iTunes library.

* Hazel clears out my media-heavy temporary files such as soundtrack and movie temp files once a week.

* I have one folder on a password encrypted sparse image drive that is the recipient of my scanned documents. When I ask Hazel to clean that folder, it takes each pdf and moves it to a sub folder organized by month and year. If it needs too, Hazel will create a new monthly folder.

I’ve really only scratched the surface with my usage so far. Hazel can also set color labels and add Spotlight comments. It can even rename your files. It integrates with the iLife library allowing you to send files into iPhoto and iTunes. If you are trying to break yourself of the habit of accumulating files on your desktop, Hazel can lend a hand.

These are just a few examples of what Hazel can do. Lately, whenever I catch myself doing repetitive file management tasks, I end up making a Hazel rule to get that bit of drudgery out of my life.

If you don’t already have a program to delete applications, like AppZapper, Hazel has a feature called AppSweap that sniffs out related files when you go to delete an application.

I exchanged email with Hazel’s developer, Paul Kim. Paul explained that he developed Hazel out of frustration with keeping his desktop clean and his observation about what a good job smart folders did of keeping his mail organized. Paul says he is looking into adding a few Leopard specific features but also intends to continue supporting Tiger

I really enjoy using my Mac. I want to spend that time, however, getting my work done or having fun making music or working on the MacSparky blog. Hazel helps you cut down on the time spent doing computer housekeeping and more time for the fun stuff.

My review was of version 2.1.1 which is universal binary. Hazel can be downloaded at Noodlesoft.com for a free 14-day trial. A full license will cost you $21.95. However, Paul agreed to give a 10% discount to MacReviewCast listeners and MacSparky readers for the week of December 1-8, 2007. Just enter the coupon code MACSPARKY. Now is your chance!

Review - FileChute

Published at November 24, 2007 in Reviews and filechute. 1 Comment

If you would like to listen to this review, I recorded and published is as part of the MacReviewCast #135.

Like a lot of computer users I am constantly sending files around. It is easy enough with small files but what happens when the files get too big for an email. I send family movies to relatives in London and the Philippines. I send Keynote Quicktime movies to clients and judges. I even send the occasional AIF file to my good friend Tim at the Macreviewcast.

Well, up until recently I always did this through Pando or some other ubiquitous online service that agreed to be my middle man in large file transfers. This works well enough but if the file sizes get too large, those options start costing money. Furthermore, it always requires the participation of the other side. Sure I can tell my brother-in-law in London to get a Pando account, but can I really say that to a client or judge?

Well once again the excellent Mac developer community has come to the rescue. Yellow Mug Software’s $17.95 FileChute does the trick. This little application puts a box on your screen with a … well … chute. You then drag any file or group of files you want into the chute and the application prompts you to send it as-is or archived in dmg, zip, or tar formats. You can password the archive (or not) and then FileChute uploads it to your internet location of choice.

I’ve got a .mac account and it works flawlessly. I also uploaded some files to the MacSparky server space and it works just as well. The first time you do this you need to tell FileChute where to send your file but after that there is no more fiddling required. I found the set up with a .Mac account ridiculously easy. On my own server I had to give it a bit more information but it still only took a few minutes to configure.

Once the file is uploaded, FileChute gives you a link that you can put in an email, read over the phone, or tie to the leg of a pigeon. Your recipient just needs to click the link and the file downloads. No more do your recipients need to sign up for an “account” somewhere. No more is retrieving files such a chore. Click and download. It doesn’t matter if the recipient is on a Mac, Windows, or Linux. This really is FileChute’s greatest feature. The recipient does not have to be tech savvy to get your files. Suddenly, it is possible for me to send files to people who would otherwise have no clue as to how to retrieve them.

FileChute also cleans up after itself. You can set an expiration for the files to self delete in a certain number of days or you can tell it to delete the file immediately.

I tested FileChute retrieving files on both Macs and PCs and I never had any problems. I’m sure there could be some issues if your router or firewall is particularly grumpy but that wouldn’t really be the fault of FileChute.

This review is of version 3.01 which I ran in Leopard on my MacBook Pro. It is universal binary. You can buy a license for FileChute for $17.95 at yellowmug.com. I’ve written the developer however, and Yellow Mug has agreed to offer 25% off that price if you use the coupon code MACSPARKY so now is your chance. They also have a free trial and a 60-day, money back guarantee, and free upgrades. If you find yourself routinely sending files that won’t fit in an email, you can’t go wrong with FileChute.

Review - Inspiration 8

Published at November 18, 2007 in Reviews and inspiration. 1 Comment

You can hear this review on the MacReviewCast Episode 134. This week I thought I would take a look at an excellent software package my daughter has been using on her iMac, Inspiration 8 from Inspiration Software.

 When school started this fall, my 6th grade daughter, Sam, came home bragging about this program she was using at school that sounded a lot like a kid friendly mindmap program. Now I know you must be thinking, how could an 11 year old be excited about such a thing but, indeed, the kids are. That is because the folks at Inspiration have figured out a way to make these tools fun and easy to work with. 
 Inspiration has both outline and diagram views that allow the kids to work in a linear or more free-form basis. It is loaded with education friendly templates. Nevermind the obligatory organization chart: This thing has important stuff like history reports and science projects. The built in dictionary and thesauras even help them step up thier writing skills.

 It helps you gather, sort, and analyze information and then organize it for presentation or report. Man do I wish I learned those skills when I was 11. 
 The application is useful for planning and organizational skills, critical thinking, communicating clearly, and analytical skills. If the kids have fun while they do it, they won’t have any idea just how much good it is doing them. You’ve heard enough from me though. I have a guest reviewer who wants to share her thoughts on the program.

Allow me to introduce Samantha Sparks

****Samantha

Hi, my name is Samantha and I am doing my review on a program called Inspiration 8. It was released in February of this year. You can build diagrams, graphic organizers, and concept maps. You can add pictures and arrows. It features 65 templates to get you started. You can also add media.

I found out about it at school when we had to do a family tree on it. It was pretty easy once you know about two of the main buttons. I recommend using rapid-fire which is a button for brainstorming. It is a lot faster. Overall the program is very easy to catch onto.

I use it still for school purposes. I just recently did a report that required a family tree. My Social Studies teacher gave us a handout of a template of the tree. I started and then realized that I could make it a lot easier and better on Inspiration. I have the ability to start it at school in lab and import my unfinished copy onto my thumb-drive. I can then just finish it at home. It makes it a lot easier.

As I said before, it comes with a lot of templates already so I usually pick one of those. You can make bubbles different shapes, colors, and sizes. You can also insert hyperlinks. It can be on a mac or a PC. The program overall just is so easy and it makes projects look quite nice.

The one thing that I don’t quite like the fact that when insert a new bubble, the arrow automatically shows up with two points on each end. You can’t just set a setting for the arrows and just apply it to them all. I have to manually highlight each arrow and change them.

I would highly recommend this program to people who make diagrams or concept maps a lot. You can do something very similar to this on word but I think it is worth it to buy and use this one instead.

*****David

A license for Inspiration will cost $69. I know that is pretty high but teaching my daughter the skills this program offers makes it a bargain in my book.

MacSparky